


Pacing.

by dan_howells_tongue



Series: Oneshots [1]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Anxiety, Cuddles, Domestic Phan, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Mentions of Anxiety, Oneshot, Sex Mentions, actually no mum don't read this please, mum are you proud, oh yeah, phil being a total sweetheart, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 05:59:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17218310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dan_howells_tongue/pseuds/dan_howells_tongue
Summary: It was snowing.It was mid-December and Dan was curled up on a sofa meant for two, swaddled in a fluffy blanket and watching the snow drift by outside.The heating was on in the flat, the potted plants that usually sat on the balcony had been brought inside, and the duvet that belonged on his and Phil’s bed was casually thrown over the back of the couch.





	Pacing.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is a oneshot I submitted for the 2018 Phandom Games, and the judges selected this one as their favorite! I really hope you enjoy this because I've spent the last two days stressing over this
> 
> I also kinda hyperfocused on this instead of the next chapter for my other fic, so sorry for the extremely late update.
> 
> please like/reblog on tumblr, and kudos are always appreciated!

It was snowing.

It was mid-December and Dan was curled up on a sofa meant for two, swaddled in a fluffy blanket and watching the snow drift by outside.

The heating was on in the flat, the potted plants that usually sat on the balcony had been brought inside, and the duvet that belonged on his and Phil’s bed was casually thrown over the back of the couch.

It could be considered very peaceful, if not for the fact that Phil had left the flat an hour ago in search of hot chocolate and other sugary necessities (they had run out) and now the news playing on the dim television screen showed that the streets had been closed down in lieu of an impending snowstorm.

He had been wondering what had taken Phil so long. Tesco wasn’t more than a ten-minute Tube ride away. So where could he be? The streets were clogged, he knew that, but Phil should have been home twenty minutes ago. What happened? Where was he? Was he okay?

Dan sighed. He just wanted Phil to be safe and here with him.

Stretching his hand out to the coffee table in front of him, Dan grabbed his phone and started swiping on the screen, trying not to let his anxiousness show.

...Because obviously, the fact that he was alone in the flat _did not_ mean that he was free from embarrassment. God, why did everything have to make him so nervous? He couldn’t even go twenty minutes without hearing from Phil before starting to panic. Dan shook his head at himself, and then pressed the green button that said **Call Phil**.

It rang four times, and then went to voicemail.

Dan didn’t bother leaving a message, and instead swallowed the growing knot of anxiety in his stomach. He pressed **Call Phil** again.

Nobody answered.

Maybe Phil’s phone had died, or maybe he had left it at Tesco (which wasn’t uncommon, for Phil) and now he had to travel back to retrieve it.

Yeah, that was probably what was taking so long.

He got up off the couch and walked aimlessly towards the kitchen, clutching the blanket around his shoulders even closer for moral support. Waiting anxiously for Phil to come home didn’t seem like a sitting-down type of problem.

Once he got to the kitchen stove he turned back and paced towards the hallway, turning sharply when he reached their bedroom door and making his way back to the living room.

The blanket kept sliding off his lanky frame. Absentmindedly, he realized he probably looked like an overgrown Russian grandmother or some sort of cryptic nun.

Fuck. There he goes again, letting his mind wander all over the place instead of focusing on the actual maybe-problem.

Why wasn’t Phil picking up the phone? Dan wondered if he should call again. Maybe he didn’t hear the first two calls. Maybe he had put his phone on silent and stuck it in his back pocket. Maybe it had been stolen. Or- or maybe Phil had been _mugged_ and now he was dead lying in a ditch somewhere and Dan had no idea because he was standing here doing nothing.

There were probably valid reasons as to why he wasn’t answering, of course, but his brain seemed to be defenestrating all rational thought. He retrieved his phone from its place on the couch, and he pressed **Call Phil** again. Maybe he was worrying too much. Maybe he wasn’t worrying enough.

It was at the end of the third ring that Phil picked up.

“Hello? Dan? Is everything alright?”

Dan cleared his throat, suddenly embarrassed.

“Er, yeah- everything’s fine, actually--I was just a bit worried because they’re shutting the streets down and I didn’t know if they were going to keep running the Tube and you weren’t answering your phone and I-” He cut himself off. “Sorry. I know you’re probably fine and everything, I was just a bit worried…” Dan trailed off, chewing his lip.

Phil’s soft laugh bled through the speakers. Dan could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke. “A _bit?_ Dan, everything’s okay. I decided to make a stop on the way home and I, er- got a bit held up. I promise I’m fine and I’ll be home soon, yeah?”

Dan nodded, and then realized that Phil couldn’t see him.

“Yeah.”

A beat, and then Phil’s voice. “Love you, Dan. I’ll see you in a few.”

Dan smiled softly. “Love you too.”

Relief wormed its way through his limbs as Dan exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Phil would be home and then he and Dan could watch cheesy movies on the couch together and pray the power didn’t go out before they made a sinfully large amount of microwave popcorn and ate it _all_ . Maybe they could light candles and have sex in the semi-darkness of the flat, Dan awash with pleasure as Phil came undone on top of him, both panting as the other worked his hands _just_ right. Maybe they’d clean up sleepily and fall asleep together like that, with the battery-operated heater running and blankets from both bedrooms piled on top of them.

He was getting ahead of himself.

Dan sat back down against the couch, flipping idly through channels and wondering whether he would have to go to Netflix to find anything good or if there would be a decent movie playing somewhere.

He had just gotten up to make himself some hot chocolate (he had forgotten they had run out) when he heard keys clinking together at the door, and then a rather frustrated knock as someone realized he would have to use more than a little effort to get the stubborn lock to move.

Dan crossed the kitchen and opened the door, revealing a tired-but-happy Phil with melting snowflakes in his hair and blue eyes shining exceptionally brightly. He was holding a bouquet of pink pansies, that he held out towards Dan.

“I brought you flowers,” Phil said, trying unsuccessfully to hide a smile, “Because I realized that it’s been forever since I bought some for you, and I  also thought they would look quite pretty on the dining table, especially because it’s winter and all our plants are dead-” he paused as Dan took the flowers and buried his face in them, “-and there was only one florist that was still open. She looked at me like I was _crazy_ when I said I wanted an entire bouquet! I should have realized that not many flowers grow in the wintertime,” he added, frowning.

Dan grinned, and opened his arms for a hug. “I appreciate the surprise, Phil. Sorry for spamming you with calls and pacing around the flat because I assumed you were dead.”

Phil, whose arms were wrapped tightly around him, laughed into his shoulder. “Dan, you absolute twat, you _really_ thought I died? And the first thing you thought to do was walk in circles?”

Dan snorted over-exaggeratedly and swatted at Phil’s ass with his free hand. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”

Phil leaned back and pecked him on the lips. “You’d better not, Howell. Next thing you know our house will have been robbed and you’d be pacing around my dead body.”

Dan shuddered. “Ugh, don’t make me imagine that.” He stepped away from Phil and turned to find a vase. There was probably one under the sink, or perhaps in the AmazingPhil room. There were all sorts of useless props in there.

After he had located a vase and had placed the flowers inside, he felt a smile tug at his lips as Phil stepped up behind him and wormed his arms around his waist, burying his nose in Dan’s hair.

“Affectionate today, are we?” Dan teased, hiding a smile.

“Oh shut up, you were the one panicking over nothing!” Phil shot back, his fond tone nowhere near as vicious as his words.

Dan tipped his head back to rest it on Phil’s shoulder. Phil pressed a gentle kiss to his neck, smiling while he did so. He exhaled over-exaggeratedly, allowing his hot breath to wash over the spot.

“Stop, that tickles,” Dan said, with no conviction behind the words. He was grinning fully, now.

Phil bit down lightly, teasingly- until Dan started worming away impatiently.

“C’mon Phil, I wanted to make popcorn! Do you want to find a movie?”

Phil rolled his eyes and pressed another quick kiss to Dan’s cheek--before moving away quickly in search of the TV remote.

Dan grabbed one of the plastic bags that Phil had brought home and dug through it until he found the popcorn box. His stomach was growling in anticipation. Behind him, he could hear Phil flipping through channels impatiently.

“D’you wanna just try Netflix? I know we can only use it on the laptops, but maybe that would be better? Cozier, maybe,” Dan suggested, placing the bag on the plate and turning on the microwave.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Behind him, Dan heard Phil wander off in search of the computer. Dan grabbed a bowl from the lower cupboards and set it on the countertop, nearly hitting his head in the process.

When the popcorn was ready and Phil had located the laptop (and grabbed a couple extra blankets), Dan walked into the living room and set the bowl down on the table. Phil was already sat on the couch, scrolling through Netflix and in his pyjamas.

Dan settled next to him, tucking his own ankle behind Phil’s and resting his head on his bony shoulder.

“What do you feel like watching? Horror? Something dramatic? Romance? Sci-Fi?” Phil suggested, rattling off movie genres off the top of his head. Dan supposed that was what happened when you were dating someone with a degree in filming.

Dan shook his head. “Something with adventure, or something funny, maybe. I don’t want to fall asleep.”

Phil snorted. “Are you implying that horror movies make you want to sleep? Because, considering past experiences, it seems to be quite the opposite…” Phil trailed off, turning his head to look at Dan, whose eyes were closed.

“D’you want to watch a TV series, maybe? Then we won’t feel as bad if we abandon it halfway through,” Phil suggested, resting his head on top of Dan’s. Dan tilted his head up to kiss Phils chin. “How about The Office, or Brooklyn Nine-Nine? I heard that was good. Parks and Rec., maybe? I feel like I need something to laugh at after all that.”

“All what? Your _pacing?”_ Phil teased lightly. Dan smacked the back of his head.

“You twat! _Actually_ shut up.”

Phil shrugged and returned his focus on the computer screen. “We’ve already finished The Office, haven’t we?”

Dan frowned. “Sorry. I forgot. I remember we started Parks and Recreation, but you wanted to wait until spring when it was warmer out, and sunny?”

Phil nodded. “So we could connect more with the characters on the show, you know- walking around in parks and stuff.” As he said this, he poked Dan’s cheek fondly.

“I feel like you and I both know that’s _not_ what the show is about, but okay.”

Phil smiled innocently, batting his eyelashes in an attempt to make Dan smile. Dan felt his heart start to fucking melt or whatever.

“Brooklyn Nine-Nine it is, then,” Phil said, clicking on the show.

As the episode started, Dan leaned back against Phil, who wrapped his arm around his shoulders. Balancing the small laptop on both of their laps wasn’t an easy task, but it definitely wasn’t the first time they had curled up like this.

And honestly, nights like these was truly why he loved Phil. Even fighting over blankets and popcorn bowls and debating the personalities of the characters on screen really made it all the more worthwhile.

It was snowing outside, and the world was slowly becoming more and more silent as the evening wore on.

Dan and Phil were cuddling under three massive blankets, limbs tangled together as the music and voices from the show echoed around the empty flat.

They were sharing a bowl of popcorn, and at one point Phil had gotten up to make both of them warm drinks. Dan had whined dramatically at the loss of body heat, but the resulting cup of hot chocolate, he thought, was definitely worth it.

In this moment, he felt alive.

It wasn’t until late at night when Phil’s head was nodding and Dan’s limbs felt heavy that he finally closed the laptop. Dan set it on the table and pushed Phil back against the couch gently, climbing on top of him and tucking the blankets around them.

Phil’s arms automatically wrapped around his body, one hand on his lower back, the other running lazily through his hair.

Dan rested his head on Phil’s chest, their legs tangling together as he settled down. Phil’s breaths were deep, on the edge of sleep. Dan wrapped his own arms around Phil, reveling in the comfort and warmth his significant other was providing.

Tilting his head up one last time, Dan pressed a chaste kiss to Phil’s cheek. “Goodnight, Phil. I love you, so-” his voice broke, for some reason. “-so, much. I just hope you know that.” Fuck, he was _not_ about to cry over absolutely nothing. He was _not._

...But, as Dan had to admit to himself, it _wasn’t_ nothing. In fact, quite the opposite.

Phil meant everything to him, and if he was going to shed a few tears because he couldn’t fully comprehend why Phil had chosen him all those years ago, then so be it.

Dan buried his nose in Phil’s chest and breathed deeply, inhaling his scent and drifting almost immediately to sleep.

In the morning, they would wake up feeling completed, in a way that only people who had fallen asleep to bellies full of hot chocolate and the gentle sound of snow pattering against the trees outside could. They would get up and make coffee, and move on with their day, but for now, everything was still. Everything was silent, and calm, and cozy.

It was snowing. It was freezing cold outside and Dan and Phil were curled up together on a sofa meant for two, surrounded by house plants and knick-knacks and various other trinkets they had managed to collect after all their years of living together.

It was mid-December, and the heating was on in the flat.

It was snowing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you! I've also realized that Brooklyn Nine-Nine isn't on Netflix, but we can consider that artistic license, right?
> 
> you can shower me with compliments at @/dan-howells-tongue on tumblr, or @/ava_exists on twitter and @dan_howells_tongue on instagram.


End file.
